Assessment of the tolerance of Aloe species under abiotic stresses

AbstractAloe is a succulent plant with leathery green leaves in texture, which belongs to the CAM plants. The gel portion of Aloe leaves contains essential amino acids, vitamins, and enzymes. The gel extract comprises secondary metabolites and various polysaccharides responsible for different antioxidative properties, anti-inflammatory and immune-modulating activities. Although Aloe plants are tolerant to many unfavorable conditions, such as poor soils, salinity, and drought, which affects distribution, physiological life cycle, and plant nutrient compositions of Aloe species. Under these stressful conditions, there is an excessive production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), which damages the plant’s cell organelles (the chloroplasts and mitochondria) which resulted oxidative damage and the disruption of metabolic processes in plants. Antioxidant activity is the primary metabolic process that helps the plant protection against the oxidative disturbances caused by reactive oxygen species. Proline and lipid peroxidation activities induced by ROS always showed enhancement in damage to the cell organelles of plants. ROS in stressful conditions (salinity, water, and temperature) and its consequences on plants’ physiological and morphological characters in response to antioxidative properties were studies.